Impossibility
by rippah
Summary: AU/AH :: There were three things Caroline Forbes never planned to do: one, almost have a one night stand with Klaus Mikealson; two, accidentally move into his house; and three, pretend to be married to him. But then again, when does life ever go to plan? – Klaroline; loosely inspired by New Girl.
1. chapter 1 : dead end street

**a/n :: **_hello, welcome! i'm not one hundred percent sure where this story came from – it kind of hit me in the middle of the night and begged me to write, as plot bunnies tend to do! please enjoy!_

* * *

**chapter one**  
dead end street

* * *

Caroline Forbes had taught herself along time ago that there were three levels to embarrassment: the first was slight, like tripping up on your way into class, or spilling toothpaste down your jumper. Then there was medium - dancing and singing too loudly when you're drunk, and not remembering anything the next day. And finally, there was complete and utter, one hundred percent mortification.

The one hundred percent mortification that Caroline had tried to avoid all her life, went something along the lines of sitting awkwardly on the edge of an overly-large sofa in front of three skeptical, slightly amused men and saying:

_"I thought you were girls."_

So, to say the least, Caroline's day so far had been completely, and absolutely dreadful; one mortifying embarrassment after another, piling up until Caroline wondered if she could bury herself in them and hide for the rest of her life.

Hermitage was looking like a pretty bright option now.

**:-:**

Waking, up she supposed, on quite literally on the wrong side of bed, had never really been an evangelical sign from the heavens of a glorious day to come. Neither had been eating cold eggs for breakfast, then regretting it horribly when Caroline had been sat in the departmental meeting, trying to stop the ominous sounds escaping from her stomach.

The meeting it's self had been a disaster; they had been discussing some kind of _project _she was meant to be embarking on. Except everyone in the journalistic section of Mystic Fall's Newspaper had failed to inform Caroline what the actual goddamned project was, so by the time lunch time came, Caroline was very near to hitting someone.

It was only at the lunch date, with Caroline's best - Bonnie - that she was reminded of the meeting with the house owners.

"I still don't understand why I can't keep the flat?" Caroline grumbled into her fries, dipping one aggressively in the pot of Ketchup. "It's a perfectly nice, affordable flat."

Bonnie sighed. "We've gone over this, Caroline! Tyler bought the flat, Tyler doesn't want you to have the flat. You try to buy it, he only offers a ridiculous price. Tyler-"

"-is a bastard," Caroline finished. "I get it. I just-"

"I know." Bonnie squeezed her friends hand. "Look, these people seem great: big house, just outside Mystic Falls! I'm sure you'll get on like a house of fire, Care."

"Fine, I know," Caroline slurped at the last dregs of her coffee. She knew it was a vile habit, but right now vile was the only thing which kept her from running to Tyler Lockwood's flat and telling him _exactly _where he could put his bloody flat; he could stuff his goddamned flat up his goddamned-

"Car-o-line?"

Bonnie's voice interrupted Caroline's musings, and she looked at her friend apologetically.

"You're the best, you know that, right?"

Bonnie shrugged. "I'm just your friend, it's what I do - look out for you."

"Yeah, but you're my married, working friend, with a kid who goes out of her way to try and make me happy."

"As I said," Bonnie grinned, standing up and shouldering her bag. "I'm your friend. Now, haven't you got an interview as a potential _roomie _to be attending?"

"Saying everything in a french accent, doesn't make you french, Bon!" Caroline threw one arm around her friend, planting a kiss on her cheek. "Say hello to Jeremy and the kid for me?"

Bonnie returned the kiss, and swept out of the Mystic Grill with a terribly accented _Au Revoir. _

Caroline smiled, slipping the cheque under her plate.

To say her day had gone even more downhill from there was an understatement.

A big, fat understatement sliding down a cliff face, at a one-hundred-and-eighty degree angle, with only a paper bag as a parachute.

**:-:**

She arrived at the house late, after getting ridiculously lost in the maze of a forest surrounding the Salvatore Boarding House. Her mom had told her that the house's history went way back, and had used to belong to one of Mystic Fall's Founding Families, the Salvatores.

The house was massive and held an odd air of mystery; an old Tudor style porch graced its front and Caroline couldn't help shivering as she stared up at the cobwebs draped across the rafters.

The advert for a new roommate had appeared on the side of Caroline's Facebook profile three days after Tyler had demanded she leave their shared flat. It had simply read: "**Looking For A New House Mate" **with an audio-post explaining the location and times for interviews.

It look three rings for anyone to come to the door, and when it was finally thrown open revealing a dark haired young man with a smirking face, and from there things had gone down hill. And now she didn't even have a freaking paper bag parachute.

The man who had opened - Kol, was it? - had obviously thought she was some kind of oddly minded hooker because he had yelled, "NICHOLAS SPARKS, CHINESE TAKEOUT, HERE I COME", before Caroline had even managed to get a word in edgeways, let alone stepped through the door.

It had taken some explaining to say the least.

And so she had ended up, sitting awkwardly on the edge of an overly-large sofa in front of three skeptical, slightly amused men and saying:

_"I thought you were girls."_

If she had been feeling any less mortified, Caroline would have probably found the situation hilarious. Here she was, trying to find a place to live, and accusing three ratherattractive men, who happened to be potential roomies, of being girls. Their faces all held varying degrees of horror.

"I'm _sorry_?" The younger man with the sad-puppy face and the sculpted hair – Stefan – was the first to speak. "You what?"

_Oh shit, _Caroline thought miserably. The chances that the men would even agree to let her move in were growing smaller by the second.

"What, exactly, made you think that?" His brother, Damon raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I just–" Caroline stammered; she had gotten herself into a fine pickle. "–the voice in the audio post, it sounded _feminine?_"

Damon snorted into his glass of bourbon and raised it in amusement at his Stefan. "Nice going, brother."

Caroline blushed beetroot. Out of all of them, Stefan had seemed the most obliging and now she had just gone and insulted him. "I'm so sorry," she muttered into her lap.

Stefan shrugged amiably, before glaring at his brother. "It's fine."

"Well," Caroline made her way to stand up, grabbing her bag. "It was nice meeting you. You have a–"

"Wait! You're going already?" Kol raised an eyebrow.

"I–" Caroline paused, halfway off the sofa. "I didn't think you'd want me as a roommate, after–"

"I think Stefan can take a bit of humiliation." Damon laughed. "He's a big boy."

"Tell us about yourself," Stefan tried, ignoring his brother.

"I'm twenty four, journalist. I recently–" she paused, not knowing whether she should tell them about Tyler. "I just did somewhere to stay, really."

"I think we could deal with her," Kol commented. "She seems alright."

"Hello?" Caroline glared at him. "I am here?"

"Sorry, darling." The brunet winked at her. "What I meant to say was, I vote yes. Stefan, Damon?"

"Kol..." Stefan warned. "I think we need to discuss this a bit more–"

"Well, I vote yes," Damon commented, draining his drink. "We could use a bit of fresh meat in the house. What with you spending your life running after Rebekah the whole time, and Klaus still drowning his sorrows over Tatia. Come on, Stef!"

"I suppose–"

"Fabulous," Kol concluded for him. "When do you want to move in?"

"_Kol_," Stefan reprimanded. "Does the day after tomorrow work for you, Caroline?"

Caroline beamed, her embarrassment melting into relief. "It sounds brilliant."

**:-:**

"Okay," Bonnie said slowly. "In two days, you're going to move into a house with three random men who you've known for less than forty eight hours and _live _with them? What if they're axe wielding psychopaths!?

"It's four," Caroline corrected, turning down the road where her soon to be old flat was situated. "Stefan mentioned that Kol's brother Niklaus lodges with them. He wasn't there though. And don't be ridiculous, Bon. They seemed lovely."

"That's what they want you to think," Bonnie muttered darkly.

"Oh, don't be such a buzzkill," Caroline groaned. "Be happy that I'm finally getting over Tyler - isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well, you moving into a house with four random men wasn't exactly what I had planned, Caroline."

"Bonnie! Stop it - are you free tonight?"

"I should be - Jer is having the boys over so he could look after Sheila. What do you have in mind?"

"Drinks?" Caroline suggested. "In celebration of my new home with the axe murders?"

"Sounds like a plan."

**:-:**

There was a new sort of freshness in Caroline's heart as she locked up the flat and bounded down the stairs. She was finally starting again - off with the old and on with the new. She had begun packing up the remains of her things, ready to move into the Boarding House. Now she had girl time with Bonnie and was determined to change.

She was getting Tyler out of her life once and for all.

Walking into the Mystic Grill, she saw Bonnie at the bar, ready with two shot glasses and a bottle of bourbon. She shook her head in mock reproach as she approached her friend.

"You can't be getting drunk," she reprimanded. "You're married, remember?"

"Oh, shush," Bonnie hit her friend playfully. "It's a celebration, right?"

"Well, fill me up then," Caroline said, setting herself at the bar. "Haven't got all night."

The night flew by, almost as fast as the contents of the bourbon bottle disappeared. Finally the clock ticked to ten to midnight and Bonnie made her farewells.

"B-o-n-n-i-e," Caroline slurred. "Why do you have to go?"

Bonnie kissed her friends cheek. "I'm a married women, _remember_? Do you want to share a cab home?"

Caroline shook her head. "I'll stay for a while longer. See if my dress turns back into rags again."

Bonnie chuckled. "Stay safe, and tell me how the move in with the axe murders goes, okay?"

"Alright. Say hi to everyone."

Caroline watched her friend leave the pub, running a hand through her hair. In hindsight, she probably should have left with her friend. She had drunk far too much and she could feel the effects of the alcohol cruising through.

"Can I buy you a drink, love?"

Caroline started at the sound of a voice behind her. A deep, husky, English voice at that.

"Excuse me?" She turned awkwardly on her stool, to stare at the source of the sound.

The man on the bar stool down from her was staring at her intensely out of blue eyes, set off by his tanned face. Strings of beads led down to an open shirt.

_Damn, he was hot._

"Drink? I'll buy you one?"

"I–" Caroline paused. She had probably consumed more alcohol than what was probably healthy but she hadn't had an attractive man offer her a drink in a long time. "Sure. I'll have what you're having."

The man smiled and waved at the barman who poured Caroline a glass of amber liquid. She sipped at it, studying the man from under hooded eyes. "I'm Caroline," she offered.

The man paused, nursing his drink.

"Nik."

There was something about his tone of voice which made Caroline wonder if he was telling her the whole truth but she banished it from her mind: she wasn't going to let silly prohibitions ruin her night.

"So," she began. "What brings you to Mystic Falls."

"I live here," Nik told her. "Yourself?"

"Same." Caroline shifted uncomfortably. Small talk had never been her good area.

The clock on the wall suddenly struck midnight and Caroline locked eyes with Nik. He winked at her.

"Well, we'd better get you out of here before my you turn into a pumpkin, love."

It was a bad idea. Caroline knew it was: a one night stand with a handsome stranger would make her feel better for a while but in the long run she knew she'd regret it.

Especially in a town as small as Mystic Falls. But there was something about this man - _Nik's _- eyes which made her stomach pool into a storm of butterflies, and the half smirk on his face, daring her to refuse his offer, made every inch of her body tingle like electric.

"Fine," she agreed.

The cab ride passed in a blur: the pair tumbled onto the seats and Nik told the cab driver his address. There was something oddly familiar about it but Caroline didn't stop to think for long. Nik's hands were suddenly everywhere: sliding down from her cheekbones, to her shoulders, to her chest, to the curve of her thighs.

His mouth was hot against hers, moving against it, his tongue asking for – demanding – entrance. Caroline obliged whimpering as his teeth grazed her bottom lip. Somewhere in the middle distance, she heard the cab driver muttering about young people and sex but she was too lost in Nik to notice.

The car pulled to a stop and reluctantly the pair drew away as Nik payed the fare. Caroline's body was on fire. There was a wanton ache in the pit of her stomach and her lips tasted like sweat, alcohol and lust.

Before she knew it, the cab had driven away away and Nik's arms were around her again. Their lips collided and Caroline grabbed the collar of his shirt, crushing him closer to her. His hands grabbed her ass, lifting her up until she could wrap her legs around him, pushing her core closer against his growing hardness.

The low dip of her back grazed against a tree but Caroline didn't stop; his hands were on her thighs, fingers creeping agonizingly slowly towards the hem of her dress, his mouth trailing streams of fire down her neck, biting at the soft skin there. God, this was–

Caroline's heart froze.

"Stop–" she demanded, pushing Nik away from her. "Stop. Right now."

Nik's hands slipping from her legs as Caroline slid down the tree, holding onto it on shaky legs. Her alcohol ridden mind had just noticed the house behind Nik. Something caught in her throat.

_Big. Creepy. Tudor style porch._

"You–you live here?"

"Yes?" Nik stared at her in confusion. "Are you–"

_Nik. Niklaus. Klaus. _

How could she have been so stupid?

"Oh, shit," Caroline whispered as she stared up at the Salvatore Boarding House, her stomach churning with horror.

* * *

**a/n :: **_well, if you stayed long enough to read this, i hope you enjoyed! updates will come soon_

_please don't favourite/follow without reviewing - even one or two words means a whole lot to an author._


	2. chapter 2 : taking chances

**a/n :: **dear merlin, the response to this fic was phenomenal! eighteen reviews and thirty six follows? please let me love you all forever and ever!

just as a side note, i will generally try and get new chapters uploaded every saturday. although, at the moment i swamped with exams so updates might be a little sporadic but i shall try my best!

anyway, enjoy this chapter! i love you all!

* * *

**chapter two**  
taking chances

* * *

Caroline was hiding.

She had been curled up in a ball on the sofa for the last fourteen hours, adamantly ignoring Bonnie's constant calls on her phone.

After the horrible realization of where Nik, or Klaus or whatever she was meant to call him, lived Caroline had pretty much ran from the scene, leaving a confused, slightly tousled man behind her.

Since she had arrived back at her half packed up flat, she had been sitting on her sofa, trying to figure out what the hell she was meant to do. Normally a one night stand wouldn't mean much to her – it was kind of a "hey, we had sex: it was great but you know, we probably won't ever talk again" matter. But this was different.

Tomorrow she was meant to move in with a man she had almost had sex against a tree with.

_Fuck._

Caroline was suddenly started out of her reprieve by a loud banging on the door.

"Go away," she mumbled into her blanket, willing the noise to stop. Unfortunately the source of the knocking didn't seem to respond well to her psychic attempts to shut it up so a bedraggled Caroline rolled off the sofa and opened the door.

"Hello to you too," Bonnie Bennett said raising an eyebrow before barging into the flat.

"Bonnie," Caroline moaned. "I'm really not in the mood."

Bonnie surveyed the room in all its various states of disarray – empty ice-cream pots, half packed boxes, the pile of blankets on the sofa, and then looked back at her friend.

"Elena will be round in few minutes with pizza, and then you're going to spill, Caroline Forbes."

"There's nothing _to _spill, Bon!" Caroline moaned, dropping down on the sofa. "And anyway, I thought Elena was still in Cali?"

Bonnie ignored Caroline's first statement and began folding the blankets. "She got a break from work and decided to come down and see everyone. If you actually answered your phone, I would've been able to tell you."

"Sorry," Caroline snapped. "I've been a little preoccupied."

"Well then–" Bonnie paused at the sound of knocking. "Elena's here – we'll get some good, fresh pizza down you and then we can discuss these preoccupations."

Caroline gave up: with Bonnie Bennet there was rarely any point arguing.

Five minutes later, Caroline found herself sitting around her kitchen table with Bonnie and Elena looking intently at her. Elena was a model – a slim, five ft six figure with large eyes and a mass of brown hair – who spent most her time working in California. It had been five months since Caroline had last seen her.

"Come on, Care, you have to talk to us," Elena said, biting a chunk out of her slice of pizza. "God, this is good – you have no idea how much I have _missed _this food. They're making me go on some rabbit food diet, it's absolutely–"

"_Elena_," Bonnie clucked. "Caroline, come on – did something happen at the Grill?"

Caroline looked down at her pizza. She knew telling her friends would help - they were sensible at would come up with a reasonable solution. "Yes," she mumbled.

"We're making a start, good." Elena squeezed her friends hand. "What happened?"

"I met this guy," Caroline began hesitantly.

"And that's bad because?" Bonnie prompted.

Caroline sighed and began to tell them the whole story, ending defeatedly at the part in which she had ran away from Klaus.

"Damn, girl." Elena whistled. "That is a pickle."

"You're telling me," Caroline said miserably. "I can't move in with them – I just can't!"

Bonnie sighed. "You have to be out of the flat in two days," she reminded Caroline. "Tyler says he won't give you any more time."

"Tyler's such a dick," Elena commented. "Hey, you can come to Cali with me!"

"Hell-o? I have a job, remember?"

"Talking of which," Bonnie looked at her friend. "Why aren't you at it?"

"I called in and said I'm ill," Caroline muttered.

"Caroline," Elena said. "It's not the end of the world. You're both mature adults – call this Nik person and figure it out together."

"Look, I'll just ring Stefan and tell him I'm not moving in. Simple as."

"Care, you need somewhere to stay...in the long run."

"So, what?" Caroline glared at her food. "I'll find somewhere in the end."

"This is Mystic Falls." Elena smiled sadly. "You can't spend your whole life avoiding him."

"You really think I should talk to him?" Caroline asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Bonnie assured. "Move in with them tomorrow, and talk. What's the worse that could happen?"

"Look on the bright side," Elena winked at her friend, "you may resolve your problems and end up shagging him against a tree again!"

"_Elena!_"

**:-:**

When Caroline awoke the next morning, there was an apprehensive burning in her stomach which she couldn't quite place. It took her a few moments of intensive eye rubbing and groaning to realise where the feeling was coming from.

Then it hit her: it was moving day.

After Bonnie and Elena had left the previous night, Caroline had finished packing up her things. It was odd to see the place so bare: there were no pictures on the walls, no clothes in the draws: just brown boxes stacked haphazardly around the living room.

Checking her phone, Caroline saw there was a text from Stefan:

_Hey, Caroline, looking forward to seeing you today! - S_

Groaning, Caroline rolled out of bed. It was a Saturday so she didn't need to be at work and she had no excuse – but embarrassment – to avoid the eventual move in. Bonnie had told her to get it over and done with as soon as possible but that didn't stop Caroline taking an extra long time breakfasting, showering and dressing.

She tired to dress semi-formal, putting on a dress which fell just above her knees, an old denim jacket and boots. By the time Bonnie was knocking on the door with Jeremy's truck for all her boxes, Caroline's legs were jelly.

The car journey passed in tepid silence. Bonnie could tell her friend was nervous and had learnt a long time ago that when Caroline was feeling particularly intense emotions, small talk was never a good idea.

Finally they pulled up at the Salvatore Mansion and Bonnie let out a low whistle. "Damn, this place is big, Care."

"Yeah," Caroline's stomach was churning; she could feel the toast she'd forced down at breakfast threatening to rise in her throat.

"Do you want some help settling in?" Bonnie asked.

"I'll be fine," Caroline assured. "I'll start unloading."

"Sure."

The pair began to take the boxes out of the boot, piling them out on the gravel. Finally, Caroline placed the last box and stared at the contents of her life, forced into ten boxes and one suitcase.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah," Caroline replied. "Look – here comes Stefan; he can help me take everything in."

The girls waved at the younger Salvatore brother who was making his way out of the house towards them. "Hey!"

"Hello!" Caroline smiled. "This is my friend, Bonnie Bennett. She helped me bring everything over."

"Nice to meet you! Would you like to come in for a drink?"

"Oh, no!" Bonnie returned his smile. "Thanks but I have to go and collect my husband from a match – I nicked his car."

"Well, I'll see you around." Caroline and Stefan smiled and waved as Bonnie climbed into her car and drove off into the dense mass of trees.

"Now," Stefan smiled, "are you ready to move in?"

Taking a deep breath, Caroline managed a shaky smile back. "I think so."

**:-:**

Three and a half hours later, Caroline had unpacked all her things and was sitting in the middle of her new bed, in her new room surveying her handiwork. She had liked her new bedroom from the moment Stefan had shown it to her: big windows over looking the forest dominated one window; the rest of the walls were dark, paneled wood, with a large four poster bed and a en-suite bathroom to one side.

Stefan had stayed for a while and told Caroline the basic "ground rules" of the house: there was a list of chores to which Caroline would be added; there was a weekly food rota for cooking; everyone did there own laundry. The list went on, and Caroline half listened. Stefan was being lovely and she _knew _she should have been paying better attention but her head was still whirring about the whole Klaus debacle.

Now Stefan was gone and Caroline had procrastinated as much as could. She was going to have to face Klaus eventually. Rolling half-heartedly off her bed, Caroline crossed over to the door and peered out onto the landing. It was completely deserted. The sound of heavy rock music was drifting out from underneath one of the doors.

The smell of cooking was coming from downstairs and Caroline frowned, checking her watch. Stefan had told her supper was generally at seven o'clock but it was barely half past five. Shrugging, Caroline followed her nose down the stairs and towards the kitchen, hoping to get better acquainted with the rest of the house before eventually meeting with Klaus.

Unfortunately, as she rounded the corner into the kitchen, it seemed that fate had begun to get a little pissed off with her procrastination because standing, whistling by the stove was the person Caroline had least wanted to see.

_Shit._

Hurriedly, Caroline tried to back out of the kitchen but her shoulder caught the edge of the high cupboard; there was a loud crash as a tin of beans fell out of the half opened cupboard door. Klaus whirled around, a spoon of tomato sauce half way to his mouth.

"_Caroline?_" he asked incredulously. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I–" _Oh fuck. _Caroline's brain was in panic mode and the only properly formed sentence which was coming to mind was, _damn, you look sexy in an apron, _and she doubted that would help the situation particularly well. "I–you cook?"

"Did Stefan let you in?" Klaus rolled his eyes, ignoring Caroline's half-attempt at a question. "I told him not to let anyone in."

"He did, but–"

"So, why are you here, Caroline?" Klaus turned back to his food, stirring his pot on the stove. "If you want a repeat of Thursday night, I'm sorry but I am far too sober."

Caroline blushed scarlet. "I–what? NO!"

"Well, then. If it's not that, and you're not going to tell me why you're here, are you going to explain why you ran away from me last night?

"Klaus," Caroline paused. Stefan obviously hadn't told Klaus who exactly was moving in and now with Klaus thinking she wanted only to continue their one night stand, things weren't exactly looking bright. Caroline had no idea where to start with explaining that she was in fact living in his house.

Luckily, she was suddenly saved – so to speak – by Damon, who sauntered into the kitchen, bottle of bourbon swinging from one hand. "Klaus," he said. "I see you've met our new roommate."

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

If Caroline had thought she had been mortified during the interview two days ago, she had been sourly mistaken. This was reaching new levels of embarrassment.

"_Excuse me_?"

There was complete silence. Whatever Klaus had been cooking bubbled away merrily. The tension in the kitchen was so thick it could have been cut.

"I was going to explain–" Caroline started.

"Oh, really?" Klaus' eyes were wide with disbelief. "So, that's why you ran away the other night? You could have fucking explained."

"Nik–"

"Don't _Nik_ me."

Damon frowned, taking a swig of bourbon and looking between Caroline and Klaus. "Am I missing something?"

"Damon..." Klaus warned. "Could you give us a moment, perhaps?"

"Sure, boss." Damon raised an eyebrow but didn't comment anymore, strolling out of the room, sparing only another confused look at Caroline.

Once the pair of them were alone, Klaus turned on Caroline. "You could have told me."

"I was panicking!" Caroline protested. "I didn't want to have one-off sex with a man I was going to live with!"

Klaus let out a long breath. "Honestly, love, don't you think it would have been more sensible to _talk _to me instead of running off like I had suddenly turned into an ogre?"

"My name's Caroline," she snapped. "I said I was panicking! I was having a perfectly nice time up until I realized I was going to have to live with you! What would you have done?"

"I thought you had a bit of common sense, sweetheart."

"Oh, shut up!" Caroline snapped. "You obviously don't want me here, so I'll go and tell Stefan that I've decided to move out."

"When did I say I didn't want you here?" Klaus asked. "I just said you could have talked to me instead of scampering off into the night!"

"I don't scamper, and I'll have you know–" Caroline stopped mid sentence, suddenly realizing what Klaus had said. "You don't mind me living here?"

"You seem alright, love," he told her. "And the other night was pretty good until–"

"_Klaus_!" Caroline went red. "If you really don't mind–"

"I don't."

"–then I will stay," Caroline muttered. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go."

Klaus raised an eyebrow but if he was curious he didn't ask. "Alright then," he grinned wolfishly. "If you'll go and call the others, I think your moving in dinner is almost ready."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Klaus."

"You're welcome, Caroline."

Caroline turned to leave the kitchen, but stopped half way.

"The other night never happened, okay?"

Klaus smiled slightly, a teasing smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Nothing happened, Caroline."

* * *

**a/n :: **i hope you all liked this chapter! *squees*

please don't favourite/follow without reviewing - even one or two words means a whole lot to an author.


	3. chapter 3 : unexpected surprises

**a/n :: **holy crap, i completely fail at updating I AM SO SORRY! everything has been really hectic lately with exams etc but i promise i shall be more regular with updates as soon as exam month is over.

on a brighter note, the response to this never fails to make me happy and i love all of you forever, okay?

i hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**chapter three**  
unexpected surprises

* * *

It was with surprising calmness that Caroline awoke the next morning. The previous evening had been _tepid_, at best. Damon was no idiot and had sensed something was going on; his eyes had kept flicking between Caroline and Klaus for the whole meal, but Caroline had kept her eyes steadily on the plate of rather delicious lamb stew in front of her. Klaus on the other hand had spent the whole dinner talking amiably to Stefan about a long gone memory from when the pair lived in New York. Looking back, Caroline figured it could have gone a lot worse.

Now, as she stretched out sleepily in her large bed Caroline was feeling oddly refresh. Her alarm clock read that it was seven in the morning, which meant she had time for a shower and good breakfast before work.

Work.  
Ah, crap. Seeing she had skipped it on Friday, the beginning of her new project – of which she still had no idea – had been postponed to today, and judging by the annoyance in her boss' voice when she had feigned a few coughs down the phone two days ago, it was a pretty big project.

Deciding it was better to get it over and done with, rather than lie around in bed all morning, Caroline stumbled sleepily out of bed, half falling into the shower as she lathered her body in soap. Half an hour later she was dressed and hurriedly scoffing a croissant in the large kitchen.

She had seen neither hide nor hair of the male occupants of the house, but it wasn't as if she was particularly eager to see any of them – Kol had spent dinner with his eyes fixated on her chest, Caroline had a nasty feeling Damon was waiting for an opportunity to hurl more questions about the whole Klaus debacle at her and Klaus. Well, Klaus was Klaus and it was far too early to think about that particular department.

Grabbing the keys Stefan had given her the night before, Caroline exited the house. The day was pleasantly warm for early April – the sun was rising in a watery blue sky as wearily Caroline pushed open the door of the Mystic Falls Journalistic Office. She smiled at Jenna Sommers, the hard-working women who worked at reception. "How's it going?" She called.

Jenna looked up and beamed in return. "Hey, Caroline! I'm brilliant – are you feeling any better?"

"Wha–" Caroline began, forgetting about her feigned illness she had called in with on Friday. She gave a slight sniffed and hoped her acting skills weren't as non-existent as they had been when she had pretended to be ill to get out of Algebra in High School. "Oh, it's alright. You know how these twenty-four hour bugs are."

Jenna shot Caroline a sympathetic look. "Well, I hope you are better – Alaric may or may not be fuming that you missed work on Friday – you're one day behind his new tabloid project!"

Caroline groaned. Alaric was a fair boss but he had precise schedules and liked to keep everything on or behind the line. "Thanks for the warning," she told Jenna. "Does he want to see me now?"

"Yup," Jenna squeezed her hand a supportive squeeze a Caroline maneuvered her way past the front desk. "Good luck!"

"I'll need it," Caroline replied darkly, pushing open the door to the back offices and reluctantly dragging her feet in the direction of Alaric's.

As she knocked on the heavy wooden door, Caroline attempted to think of some way to get her back into Alaric's good books. She was debating between slipping a bottle of bourbon into the top draw of his desk or staying late on Friday night, when the door flung open, revealing a slightly flustered Alaric on the other side. His hair was pushed back in tufts off his handsome face and his top shirt button was undone, tie hanging loosely around his neck.

"Caroline! Do you know how behind we are? I need this published at the beginning of next month or lord knows what will happen!"

He half dragged Caroline into his office, steering her into the chair on the other side of his desk. "Right – You'll need to start right away, I'll give you until lunch to read the files and then–"

Caroline coughed politely. "I'm still not quite sure what the–"

"Oh, bloody hell! You weren't in on Friday that's why! Oh, shit!" Alaric shuffled through the copious spread of papers on his desk, triumphantly producing a thick, purple binder. He threw it across the table at Caroline who caught it. The label on the front read **SILAS AND KATSUYA. **

"Cat-soya?" Caroline asked in confusion. "What the hell is that?"

"Not cat-soya!" Alaric groaned. "Kat-si-a. And it's who, not is."

"Fine then," Caroline opened the folder and stared at the picture, a handsome couple standing next to each other in front of a large mansion, hands linked. The man was tall and rugged, his good looks resting in his enticingly oddly structured face and wide green eyes. The woman was just beautiful – her face was shrouded by long waves of thick black hair and her skin was a rich coffee colour. Caroline could of stared at her face all day but she was too busy wondering – "_Who_ are they then?" She asked Alaric.

"Now you're asking the right questions!" Alaric winked enthusiastically, all annoyance he may have at Caroline disintegrating at the thrill of a juicy new tabloid story. "Silas and Katsuya Iwealea. They both grew up in Mystic Falls but left fifteen years ago after their graduation. Now they're back and they are somehow rolling in it – no one knows why, know one knows how. All they know is that if you're friends with the Iwealea's, then you're sorted."

"Okay," Caroline began flicking through the file, taking in the pictures of glistening white mansions, expensive cars and champagne drenched parties. "What am I meant to be writing about?"

"Them," Alaric said quite simply. "I have a four page spread saved for you in the _Life _magazine. If you do this, Caroline, your sorted."

"What about them? There's a catch isn't there?" Caroline eyed her boss. "I can always tell when there is a catch."

Alaric grimaced. "They're refusing to talk to the papers. About anything."

Caroline closed the folder so fast there was a snapping sound as the metal rings clashed together. "I'm a journalist, Alaric! Not a bloody undercover agent!"

"Hear me out," Alaric implored. "This will be your break, Caroline – there's a massive promotion waiting at the end of the street! If you just do this, then there's a whole window of opportunities open to you – New York, California – you'll be rolling in applications and offers!"

"But–" Caroline began to speak but Alaric cut her off.

"You'd be an idiot not to take this opportunity."

Sighing in defeat, Caroline re-opened the binder and glared at her boss. "What do I have to do?"

"That's my girl! Page fifteen."

Hesitantly, Caroline flicked to page fifteen. There was yet another picture of the happy couple, perched on a low brick wall with a stunning backdrop of a clear blue swimming pool, heralded by azure skies and a white sun. The next underneath was a short few paragraphs of text:

**WHAT MYSTERIES LIE IN MYSTIC FALLS?**

_Silas and Katsuya Iwealea, one of Virginia's richest families have just moved back to their hometown the cozy town of Mystic Falls. But what are the reasons behind their mysterious return? No one knows – Yet! But the happy couple are embarking on what they're calling a "Summer Camp" for newly wed couples. Katsuya, who spoke to our spokesmen briefly yesterday night, disclosed very little information about the camp but said it is set out to be a thrilling adventure for all who partake! Keep an eye on our website for more information!_

Caroline looked back at Alaric, frowning slightly. "So you want me to go to this camp, gather all the information about these people, write up a four page spread and then I get a promotion. There's another catch, isn't there?"

Alaric sighed. "You're far too quick."

"Tell me."

"Read the article again and you tell me."

Scanning the article once more, Caroline spotted the catch within seconds. "I'm not married. Sorry to put salt in your tea."

"There's the genius," Alaric beamed. "You're going to be."

"_Excuse me!"_ Caroline's eyes widened. "I'm not getting married just so I can write up some report on a pair of posh twits who moved into the local mansion!"

"You're not literally getting married. We've found someone whose agreed to be your partner over the next few weeks as you tackle the report."

"Seriously?" Caroline ran a hand through her hair. "I have to pretend to be _married_, to some random stranger? Even for you this is a bad plan, Alaric. I can't act to save my life!"

"Oi, watch it – I am your boss!"

"You have to see logic, I–"

Alaric interrupted her. "You're going to do it, Forbes. The reservation in the camp cost a pretty penny."

"If I don't agree to–"

"Caroline, you know as well as I do you're not one to back out of something like this." Alaric smiled slightly. "You'll be fabulous."

"Fine. Fine." Caroline sank back in her chair defeatedly. "Who do I have to marry then?"

Alaric beamed. "He should be here right now. I'll call Jenna to send him up." Alaric picked up the receiver on his desk. "Would you tell Mr. Mikealson I am ready to see him now," Alaric said, before turning back to Caroline. "He's an old friend of Elijah's or something – you remember Elijah don't you? The one in the suit who came up from the office in NY?"

Somewhere at the back of Caroline's mind, alarm bells were ringing – Mikealson, Elijah. It all sounded strangely familiar. Caroline didn't have much time to dwell on it because there was a knock on the office door and Alaric bounded up to open it.

"Mr. Mikealson," he said brightly. "Thanks for coming!"

"Anytime," came the slow, drawn out reply, "And please, do call me Klaus."

**:-:**

Caroline was fuming. Of all the goddamned people she could have been asked to pretend to be married to and it had to be Klaus Fucking Mikealson. Life was on a down which never stopped, right now.

After Caroline had gotten over her initial shock, she had managed to choke out a tight hello and her shock was rapidly melding into annoyance. It was like the bloody man was following her. Trying to stop herself from slapping Klaus around his smug face, Caroline tried to listen to what Alaric was saying.

"–Klaus is an actor. He was on a Shakespeare tour around the country now but when Elijah told me he was looking for a job, I had just been informed of the Iwealea's and it was perfect. I trust you two will get on well together!"

"Of course, Mr. Saltzman," Klaus replied smoothly. "Miss. Forbes seems like a lovely young lady."

A small snort escaped Caroline and Alaric turned to her curiously. "Everything alright there, Caroline?"

"Quite," Caroline replied stiffly. _Miss. Forbes. _That man had cheek. "Klaus seems equally...intriguing."

Caroline caught Klaus stifling a laugh out of the corner of her eye and she cursed herself for her terrible choice of adjectives. She hated it but her tongue seemed to get twisted into a thick knot every time Klaus looked at her. As she felt his eyes burn into her, she had a nasty feeling that this whole situation was not going to end well.

Finally Alaric drew to an end and stood up, Caroline and Klaus following suit as Alaric held open his office door.

"Well, I assure you'll both get yourselves acquainted for the rest of the day. The camp starts in three days. I will probably see you before then to make sure you are all briefed, but for now good luck." Alaric shut the office door, leaving Caroline and Klaus alone in the corridor.

Klaus turned to her, a small smirk on the the corners of his mouth. "Well, love, I was never one to believe in destiny but I think this is too fateful to ignore. How about a coffee?"

* * *

**a/n :: **i am sorry there wasn't much klaroline in this chapter - it was kind of a filler to explain to whole marriage thingy but i promise, there will be lots more in the next chapter. i am equally sorry if this was packed with mistakes – it's late and i am tired so i haven't checked it properly but i thought i ought to get it up whilst i remembered! i love you all!

please don't favourite/follow without reviewing - even one or two words means a whole lot to an author.


End file.
